A Family Bereavement Prayer.  God our Father, we remember in prayer those we have loved and had a special place in our hearts and in our lives and are now no longer here with us.  We thank you, Lord, for the time you have given us to share together the gift of life.   We pray for your pardon and a willingness to forgive one another for the hurt we caused. Help us to be at peace with the imperfections of our human relationship knowing that you accept us as we are.  Comfort us through the memories our loved ones leave us.  May those memories give us courage for our journey into the future.  Grant them a place of peace and joy in your kingdom where there is no more suffering and no more grief.  And when each of us is called to depart from this life may we be reunited with them in eternal happiness.   We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.   Amen.

Praying about Our Losses.   Lifegiving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are the perfect community of love. Our lives are less than perfect, filled with successes and gifts, losses and brokenness.  A loss through death may be big and traumatic, or a loss may be little more than a frustration and easily forgotten.  But each loss is a lesson in life, to live with patience and gratitude for gifts and blessings. Through the lessons of losing and finding, brokenness and regeneration, may we grow closer to you, God, to one another and all of creation. Praise God,